It is May’s Eve, that time when the borders between the worlds of humans and of Fae and Spirit become thin. We are at an auspicious and liminal time. I love to honor the spirits of place, as well as all of Nature at Beltane. I am a big fan of Green Man faces and the idea of a Jack-in-the-green type of forest deity. They seem to be the true spirit of primal forest energy. I also love the Green Woman figures I’ve been seeing for years now. She is a Fae-type of Goddess who I often honor at this time of year especially because I want to honor the natural world in a familiar, yet unnamed, figure. I name her Janet-in-the-Green both because Janet is a feminine form of John (Jack) and because it is a popular name for heroines in tales of Faerie in the British Isles, for instance in “Tam Lin.”
Here is an invocation to the Green Woman that I wrote for May Day 2020 that I’d like to share
Lady of the Green
Wild, hidden Goddess
Beauteous forest queen
You are the sapling, Maiden
You are the ripe nuts, Mother
You are lightning struck, Crone
Lady of the Green
Half-glimpsed Goddess
Ancient forest queen
Verdant Woman
We honor you
Queen of the May
We call to you
Bless our rites
This Beltane day!
Blessed be
We have many Arthurian examples of what we could call Green Men, like Merlin when he “went mad” in a sort of ecstatic period and lived in the woods. So, this is not some kind of new, 20th century figure. What is also interesting is that the Green Woman is not necessarily a new entity. Forest Women have long been part of myth and folklore and there are many named Goddesses of the woods and wild animals known throughout the world. In Arthurian myth, Merlin became a Spirit of Nature, Green Man, Fae, but it was his sister, Ganeida, who went to him there and brought back pieces of his humanity. Perhaps Merlin deliberately wanted to go to her during this ecstatic period and he knew she would be in the woods. Perhaps Ganeida is a Green Woman in her original form.
My Green Woman devocation
Lady of the Green
Wild, hidden Goddess
Beauteous forest queen
Verdant Woman
Queen of the May
Thank you for blessing our rites
This Beltane day!
Blessed be
Blessings of the Green to you and blessings of the May,
~Hayley, Loathly Lady
Loathly Lady 